Friday, July 27, 2012

FIFA suspension of Bin Hammam buys time

World soccer body FIFA has suspended its ousted vice
president, Mohammed Bin Hammam, from involvement in professional soccer for 90 days
in the hope that an independent audit critical of the disgraced Qatari national’s
financial management of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will allow it to
counter a court verdict that could force it to reinstate him.

FIFA said in a statement that its newly appointed
anti-corruption team, former New York state attorney Michael J. Garcia and
German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, would also use the suspension to assess
prospects of building a more solid case against Mr. Bin Hammam in the wake of
the court verdict.

The Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS)
earlier this month lifted a FIFA ban for life on Mr. Bin Hammam from
involvement in soccer after finding him guilty of attempting to buy votes of
Caribbean soccer officials for his challenge of FIFA boss Sepp Blatter in the
soccer body’s presidential election. Mr. Bin Hammam withdrew his candidacy days
before the election after FIFA had opened its investigation of the bribery
charges.

The CAS ruling left little doubt that the judges believed
that Mr. Bin Hammam, a 63-year old Qatari national, was more likely than not
guilty of the charges brought against him. The court nonetheless acquitted Mr.
Bin Hammam on the grounds that FIFA's evidence did not meet its standard of
"comfortable satisfaction." The court overturned the ban effectively
arguing that FIFA’s case had been based on flimsy evidence, inconclusive
investigations and witnesses whose credibility was in question.

FIFA’s use of the audit to temporarily suspend Mr. Bin
Hammam comes after it unsuccessfully sought to delay the court’s verdict by
introducing the report written by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). The court
rejected the report as unrelated to the allegations that Mr. Bin Hammam had
bribed Caribbean soccer officials to secure their votes in his planned
challenge of FIFA president Sepp Blatter in the soccer body’s presidential
election last July.

The report alleges that Mr. Bin Hammam used AFC accounts for
his own benefit as well as that of family, friends and soccer bodies across the
globe. The report also raised questions about Mr. Bin Hammam’s management of a
$1 billion master rights agreement (MRA) with Singapore-based World Sport Group
(WSG) and a $300 million broadcasting rights contract with the Qatar-owned Al
Jazeera television network as well as his financial relationship to parties
with possible vested interests in those deals.

FIFA appears to be betting on the fact that even if it
cannot build a stronger case to reopen its Caribbean bribery case, the fallout
of the Asian report will provide it the grounds to maintain its ousting and
banning of Mr. Bin Hammam.

The report commissioned by AFC prompted the Asian soccer
body to suspend Mr. Bin Hammam for 30 days as its president pending a review of
the report by its evaluation committee. The report provides the Kuala
Lumpur-based AFC with the reasonable suspicion of a legal offence that it under
Malaysian law is obliged to report to authorities. It also leaves the AFC with
little choice but to launch a full-fledged investigation of its own. The AFC, which has Malaysian nationals,
including a member of a royal family on its executive committee, can extend Mr.
Bin Hammam’s suspension only once for a maximum of another 20 days, ten of
which must be used to prepare a case against him. It also has to report its
finding to Malaysian authorities within that period.

The FIFA suspension constitutes an implicit recognition of
the CAS criticism even if soccer body’s statement did not say so
explicitly. FIFA’s investigation of Mr.
Bin Hammam is likely to be the tip of the iceberg. Wracked in recent years by a
series of high-profile corruption scandals and persistent controversy over the
awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, FIFA’s investigation will inevitably
broaden to review not only the Qatari’s involvement in the bid but the bid
itself. That is also probably true for the expected AFC and Malaysian
investigations.

Qatar has consistently downplayed Mr. Bin Hammam’s role in
its bid. Qatar was awarded the 2022 World Cup at a December 2010 FIFA executive
committee meeting which at the same time awarded Russia the 2018 tournament.

“Pretending that he
was not involved is a smoke screen. Bin Hammam opposed awarding the two World
Cups at the same time. He wanted to be the FIFA president who would award it to
Qatar in 2016. He also feared that Qatar may not get it if the two tournaments
were awarded simultaneously. He was right but lobbied executive committees
unsuccessfully” to delay the vote on the 2022 World Cup, a former FIFA official
said.

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam
School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore, and the author of the blog, The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer.

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James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile